The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) and the United Steelworkers Local 1976 have reached a five-year labour agreement.
Local 1976 represents more than 90 employees working in the areas of traffic control, customer service and sales, and train operations (locomotive engineers and conductors).
“This agreement balances the interests of employees with Ontario Northland’s operational requirements,” Danielle Baker, ONTC’s director of human resources, said in a Dec. 11 news release.
“This five-year agreement will provide stability and we look forward to building on this foundation to improve transportation services together.”
Brandon Gowlett, the local’s chief steward, called the agreement a “positive step for Ontario Northland.”
“Our bargaining team worked hard and we look forward to presenting this to our members over the next few weeks,” he said in the release.
Headquartered in North Bay, ONTC is a Crown agency providing passenger and freight service across northeastern Ontario.
According to the ONTC, in 2018, it fulfilled more than 51,000 passenger trips on its Polar Bear Express passenger train and more than 311,000 on its motor coaches.
Express freight shipments between Cochrane and Moosonee amounted to over 4.8 million kilograms, while over 33,000 carloads of freight were shipped in and out of northeastern Ontario.
